According to Hank, the Memory Lands had been calmer before the Invaders. People died, came to them, lasted for a long or short time, and then moved on.
And then seven billion people had died in a matter of hours, bringing their memories with them. As June walked down the broad path, she saw the City. Skyscrapers and freeways jockeyed with buildings out of the 1950s. Elevated trollies ran back and forth while helicopters and planes flew between the great skyscrapers, some taller than anything ever dreamed of in the living lands. Dark iron shone dully under the moon while gargoyles and other carvings leered out over the crowded streets, and the buildings were a little more crooked, the streets a little more claustrophobic than they had been up in the living lands.
“Home again, home again,” Hank said. “You know, sometime we need to head over to Tokyo.”
“Over the Shadowed Sea,” Sally said. “No, thanks.”
“We got airplanes!”
“Yeah, still, no thanks,” Sally said. “I don’t care what you have. It’s still far Hank. And dangerous.”
June nodded. That was one of the first lessons you learned down here. Distance here was about belief and attitude, and untold generations of human memory said that the sea was dangerous and dark things lurked in it.
And so, dark things lurked in the Shadowed Sea. Dark things lurked outside the cities of the dead. A thousand fireside tales made real by the dreams of the dead.
“See, that’s the problem with you two,” Hank said. “No verve! Why, when I was a biker, I didn’t let people scare me! And you know where that got me?”
“Hitting a tree at terminal velocity?” Sally asked.
“Well, yes, but before then, it let me spin a tale that everyone would remember!”
“I, uh… never heard of you before I met you,” June said.
“Oh, my unbeating heart!” Hank said, putting his hand to his now solid chest. “You wound me so.”
June giggled. She could feel herself becoming heavier as they got to the bottom of the ramp. Now they were fully in the Memory Lands, and she could smell the scents of food and hear people shouting. All memories, but down here, it felt real.
Even the neon and LED lighting blazed down on the crowded streets, making it easy to ignore the dark skies above.
Well, in most places. If you left the crowded parts of the endless town, you quickly got to curving, narrow streets and alleys, dark houses, full of people who stayed inside all the time or kept to themselves and…
Other things.
June shivered, but then turned back to Hank. “So I’m heading back to my digs. Wanna come?”
“Nah, I’ve gotta get ready. Only a few days before the race. What about you, Sally?”
“I? I’m singing at Cassandra’s,” Sally put a hand to her chest. “After all, someone has to show off real music compared to what you brought. Music of the future indeed!”
“Besides, here you are, out of school forever, and you immediately go and become Teacher’s student.” Hank shook his head.
“Unnatural.” Sally nodded.
“Well, see you later,” June held out her arms, and her friends hugged her. “Thanks for the party. I loved it.”
“We loved giving it for you, June,” Sally said. She winked. “Don’t get so involved in the books that you forget the race.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” June said. She waved, and the three broke up, heading into the city. Time to get home.
----------------------------------------
The teeming crowds of the central parts of the City were always enough to make the streets crowded, but never so many that the streets were impassible.
The City didn’t allow it. After all, the memory of a street was something that let you get somewhere else. June kept walking, most of the people by her from her generation, the last generation of humanity. Here and there, she saw older spirits, mostly from the last century. One man was walking along wearing old clothing from the 1800s. Around him, the street shivered for a moment, the asphalt under his feet turning to cobblestones. Only after he moved on did it return to the asphalt of the modern world.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Old spirits carried a weight of memory with them that even the City had to respect.
I wonder if I should… No, she wasn’t that hungry, and the foods you got that hadn’t been infused with memories weren’t that great. They helped fill you up, but nothing more.
“June!”
June barely had a chance to turn around before she found herself engulfed in an eager hug.
“Hello, Nancy,” June said. “I saw you up top.”
Nancy pulled back and made a face. “Why did you go up there?”
“My birthday. Hank and Sally wanted to do something.”
“Was I still on the stairs?” Nancy asked.
June paused, remembering the cluster of bodies, forever staring at their cell phones. “Yeah, you were. I don’t think many people are moving around up there right now.”
“Humph,” Nancy shook her head. “But okay, well, I wanted to tell you that me‘an the team, well the ones that you know, didn’t Move On, are back together again, and since you are still on the team, we were thinking you’d like to join us…” She gestured at June’s uniform.
June stared at Nancy. “We don’t have a football team anymore, remember?”
“There are lots of football teams down here! I mean, we have the greats! But we’re starting out at the Parlor, doing our old cheer routines for the guests!” She jumped back and did a spin.
June blinked. Nancy looked… A little taller and definitely curvier.
“Nancy, what did you do?”
“I got some lessons,” Nancy said. She struck a pose. “Like it? I’m not pizza-face anymore, and I’m not flat as a board! I know what I want, and so does my body!”
June stared. “Nancy, that can be dangerous. You’re changing yourself.”
“Not much, just so I look like I want to look like.”
Like you wanted to, or what your boyfriend wanted you to be? June remembered Nancy’s utter meltdown when Matt had decided to go out with Maria.
Maria, who had died, still trying to open the door to the hallway, bleeding from every orifice as she begged for someone to help her.
I wonder if she came down here, or if she just Moved On?
“And the rest?”
“Well, Dana Moved On, I guess. Cindy and Cathy decided to go and try to find their families, so it’s me, Judy, Tara, and Kim—but you can join us!”
“I’ll… think about it,” June said. “But Nancy?”
“Yeah?”
“No more changes, okay? The older spirits have a reason for warning us about it.”
Nancy blew an errant lock of blond hair out of her face. “Fine.”
June remembered that Nancy’s hair was brown, and she’d hated it. Now she had the hair she liked.
June didn’t like it.
“Okay, well, I’m going to head off now,” she said. “Be careful.”
“I will. Remember, we’re at the Parlor!”
“I will,” June said. She shook her head. Nancy had always been a little too willing to try the newest thing. Maybe I need to go there and make certain she doesn’t do anything stupid. Later. If I run late, Teacher isn’t going to be happy.
With that, June headed down the street. She had enough time to walk instead of getting on the little cars and buses that zipped around. June had been hit by one of them before, and it was painful—but nothing that could kill her. In the Memory Lands, simple ‘physical’ injury was an inconvenience, not a danger.
Keeping to the main streets kept June from having to worry about the less friendly parts of the City, as she moved down. There were dozens of little eateries and stores, some of them with the generic look of places that were there because people remembered that cities had stores, and others with the unique look that came from living in the memories of people who remembered those specific places with joy or sorrow.
“Sinner!”
Please don’t be me…
“Sinner, harlot!”
It’s me. June turned around to face the figure that had come out of the alleyway to shout at her. Most of the other people were ignoring them, probably happy it was June’s problem and not theirs.
“Your weight of idolatry has dragged you down to this darkness! Repent!” He was waving a Bible at her, gold and jewels adorning its cover. “Repent that you may rise up under my guidance!”
June rolled her eyes. “What about you?”
“What about—“
“You’re here, right? Why are you asking about me? Don’t you belong in heaven?”
“I was sent here to save the people! God knew my wisdom and my faith, and here I am!” He was sweating.
She stared at the Bible. “Fine, read it to me.”
“What?”
“The part where you were sent here. It’s in there, isn’t it?”
“Do not presume to command me, you harlot—“
“And who even uses harlot anymore? You died at the same time I did!”
“I didn’t! I was sent here! You died!”
“Oh for—give me that!” June lunged forward and grabbed the book. She opened the book and stared at the pages within. “Nothing in here. You never even remembered the words.” She glared at him. “You got sent here like everyone else. What’s wrong? Not special enough for you?”
He grabbed his book back. “You’ll burn! When this chance is lost, you’ll burn, and I will rise!” But even as he said it, the man was backing off, returning to the alley mouth he’d come from. He glanced from her to a pair of guards coming for him, annoyance on their faces, and then held up his book.
“REPENT SINNERS!” And with that, he turned and fled back into the alley, the shadows seeming to reach out to embrace him as he vanished down the narrow, dimly lit pathway.
June just shook her head and turned away. Guess he didn’t expect to end up here.
Too bad. A lot of people didn’t expect to end up here. Most of them didn’t let it turn them into pests.
“And great, now I am late.” June turned and started running down the crowded street. Hopefully Teacher was working on something and wouldn’t notice that she was late.
“Fat chance,” June muttered to herself. Nothing got by Teacher.